The team at The People's Newsroom are about to launch their second Story Club – an online book group exploring radical resistance and emerging futures. We'll be reading How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell. Register here ➡️ us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Late last year here at Opus, we came to the conclusion that we need to open up an intentional space for co-learning around AI technologies and what they mean for a systems change organisation like us. Some ideas (and an invitation) ⬇️

It's an absolute scandal that @artscouncilengland.bsky.social, through their National Portfolio, spend just £6.59 per person in Sheffield, compared to £44.60 in Manchester and £35.65 in Leeds. Our city deserves better! Great piece in @nowthenmag.bsky.social by @benjamintassie.bsky.social 👇

Whereas Sheffield leads in areas from documentary film to podcasts, we lag behind in classical music. Any strategy that overlooks this is incomplete, and risks limiting our potential as a cultural powerhouse. ✍️ @benjamintassie.bsky.social #Sheffield #ClassicalMusic

Great to have this engagement and response from my recent piece for @nowthenmag.bsky.social. This shows the need to have conversations about prevention work and how it might be possible to de-escalate the far right. Read if you haven’t already - nowthenmagazine.com/articles/hal...

Surrendering ever more urban public space to car owners increases pollution, ruins cities, and fuels foreign wars. But local authorities push for it because car owners are the only constituents they can imagine representing. Excellent report here by @samwake.bsky.social.

@samwake.bsky.social thoroughly explores the implications of road widening & effect on levels of NO Health effects of increased pollutants from car congestion are not limited to respiratory disorder, effects can last a lifetime, disproportionately affecting youngest, oldest & poor communities

Sheffield has a long tradition of cooperation, mutual aid and civic innovation. The energy transition gives us a chance to apply those same instincts to one of the defining challenges of our time. ✍️ Gavin Martin @nea.org.uk #Sheffield

Of the first 72 people arrested following the riot at a #Rotherham hotel in 2024, and the attempted murder of the refugees housed within it, 35 had reports of domestic abuse made against them previously. How can we begin to address this link? ✍️ @rose-mason.bsky.social @hopenothate.org.uk

A well-researched, vital, yet alarming piece by @samwake.bsky.social in @nowthengirl.bsky.social ⬇️ It's really worrying that @sheffcitycouncil.bsky.social are still looking to expand road capacity at Shalesmoor even though evidence suggests this will worsen air pollution at a nearby primary school.

I'm sure those who supported Sheffield's previous road expansions thought they would help. But the increases in air pollution should give us a clear warning. And when it induces more traffic, we can’t even rely on it to solve congestion. ✍️ @samwake.bsky.social #Sheffield

Then Jessica den Outer is here on 21 May with The Forest Fights Back, about how the Rights of Nature movement is taking on the legal system to recognise the rights of rivers, forests, and mountains to exist, flourish, and sustain their ecological balance ⬇️ #RightsOfNature

First up, we have The Spirit Level author @profkepickett.bsky.social joining us on 6 May with her new book The Good Society, which shows how a fairer, healthier, more caring and sustainable society is entirely within our grasp ⬇️

Festival of Debate returns for 2026! 🥳 We might not be running a full festival programme this year, but fear not! We're instead hosting a series of special events throughout 2026 inviting some of the most exciting and innovative thinkers of our time to Sheffield⤵️ #Sheffield #FofD #FestivalofDebate

Got a good idea about #Sheffield and fancy writing for Now Then? ✍️ We've recently updated our 'Write for Us' page to set out more clearly the kinds of pieces we're looking to publish. Give it a read, and get in touch with your ideas ⬇️

Akinseye Oke’s curatorial approach reflects the places that shaped him. In #Nigeria, he remembers music as something woven into daily life. Moving to #Sheffield introduced him to the city’s long reputation for independent music culture. @nowthenmag.bsky.social 🔖 nowthenmagazine.com/articles/sou...

That's some psychic timing posting this this week, after The Lughole's campaign yesterday! Can't say I agree with minimum wage increases being considered a problem, but this is a really insightful summary if you're not aware of the issues grassroots venues face constantly

The @musicvenuetrust.bsky.social found that 30 venues shut permanently in 2025 with job losses of 6,000 (a 19% reduction in the workforce), while the majority of small venues are now just one unexpected financial surprise away from disaster. ✍️ Steve Hunting

This Saturday, the Sheffield Emergency Relief Fund for Gaza are hosting their spring fundraiser at Crookes Social Club, with music from the Jamming Codgers and the Free Radicals, as well as poetry from Nell Attwood. Tickets are £10 (£6 unwaged) ⬇️ snappytickets.co.uk/event/free-r...

"Leo Butler's state-of-the-nation family drama sometimes suffers from its uneven pace, but its portrayal of Sheffield life over more than five decades is skilful and resonates with the home crowd" ✍️ Paul Szabo on Living, a brand-new play from @sheffieldtheatres.bsky.social #Sheffield #Theatre

"With one LP in 30 years, then two in just three years, Sheffield's shoegaze maestros move from paucity to profligacy with their most accomplished release to date" Steve Hunting reviews the second comeback album from #Sheffield indie veterans @thesuncharms.bsky.social. @sundayrecords.bsky.social

Long overdue. Hoping they get it right... better routes, more frequent, services running later at night... I already use the buses a lot, but this will potentially make life so much easier.

🥤 “To see a festival in the centre of Sheffield using solely reusable cups for their bar was great.” Ros Ayres catches up with Greg from Sheffield Action on Plastic to find out about the growing movement of people pushing back on plastic across the city. https://loom.ly/wZJNbNk

The Generative Journalism Alliance will host a series of three participatory & experiential workshops introducing Generative Journalism ✨ ➡️ Join us on 2, 9, & 16 April to learn how we can catalyse a new narrative - one that cultivates life and possibility: https://loom.ly/bZILJ_M

🚨 "Sometimes you find yourself inside a moment. Sometimes you’re called upon to have free will. But have you cultivated enough chi to kick off? To misbehave? To transgress?" ✍️ @seanmorl.com https://loom.ly/OLJlUHQ

South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard has unveiled a slick new brand for the region’s integrated transport network, as the system begins to come under full public control over the next few years. ⬇️ https://loom.ly/tOGlXok

✨ In our latest art feature, we chatted with artist Alice Bulmer, whose work with oil paints, collage and mixed media draws inspiration from feminism and neurodivergence. https://loom.ly/uHNFo8o

🎊 You’re invited to The Birthday Party! This Friday, Children’s Capital of Culture will take over Rotherham town centre, bringing the borough’s year as the Children's Capital of Culture to a close with live music, creative workshops, street theatre & more. ✨ More info: https://loom.ly/j3jRfj0

"The lyrics throughout the EP draw on themes of introspection with feelings of self-reflection and longing, whilst the music itself feels expressive, complex and smooth" Criminally-underrated dance-punk outfit Life Aquatic Band return, sans guitars, with an eye on the dancefloor. ✍️ Daniel Atherton

"At a time when too many people are struggling, it's good that bands like Bruise Control can write with such raw honesty. One man is enjoying singing so much he keeps asking for the mic" Bruise Control at Hallamshire Hotel, #Sheffield. ✍️ Hamish Yewdall

"Good quality housing shouldn’t be left to chance. A city-wide licensing scheme would provide every renter in this city with a guarantee that, no matter where they live, they can expect to find safety, dignity and warmth at home" ✍️ Cllr @mineshparekh.bsky.social #Sheffield

“It turned out to be a hotel for fish – that's what people were calling it!” For @wildsheffield.bsky.social's #ConnectingLimbs project, architecture students at @sheffieldhallamuni.bsky.social were tasked with designing ways to boost biodiversity on #Sheffield's River Sheaf ✍️ @sammgreg.bsky.social

If there’s one question we hear when we’re out and about more than any other, it’s this one: when will Now Then return to print, and what will it look like? We’ve got more details on that, plus a chance to tell us what you want from Now Then 2.0 if you’ve not already done so ⬇️ #Sheffield

"Does every Sheffield business or Sheffield landmark need a mural of another Sheffield business or Sheffield landmark emblazoned on the blank walls of its premises? Does that make it more Sheffield? Does anything in Sheffield need to declare they’re in Sheffield? They’re already in Sheffield."

My latest for @nowthenmag.bsky.social The Sheffield street artist people love to hate, and the struggle of post industrial cities to tell stories about themselves.

"This is Martin Luther nailing the 95 theses, except instead of the door to Wittenburg church it’s the wall of a micropub. And instead of objecting to the Catholic Church’s sale of indulgences, it’s protesting against someone drawing a two-metre tall bottle of Henderson’s Relish" ✍️ @seanmorl.com

“That is the river telling us that it's not having this constrained situation anymore, and it's going to try to create a more meandering course” Connecting Limbs is an amibitious project to enhance 800m of the River Sheaf, using techniques that mimic those found in nature. ✍️ @sammgreg.bsky.social

As we recently revealed in our newsletter, we’re cooking up exciting plans to return Now Then to paper and ink later this year 📰 We want to know what you, our readers and contributors, want from a print edition of the mag. Find out how you can tell us online or in person 👇 #Sheffield #NowThen

We'd highly recommend next week's #JazzAtTheLescar with Flo/Ra, a genre-blurring quintet led by saxophonist Flo Taylor. "Their music explores themes of neurodivergence, identity and grief through emotionally honest, and beautifully arranged compositions" #Sheffield #Jazz jazzatthelescar.com

Recently, we were lucky enough to have journalism student @rose-mason.bsky.social joining us on the @nowthenmag.bsky.social team for two weeks. You can read some reflections from Rose about her time at Opus and at the magazine over on the Opus Blog ⬇️

"Every small act and thought is defiance... even their existence itself is a quiet rebellion" Cherien Dabis's new film 'All That's Left of You' is an epic historical drama spanning seven decades in the life of one Palestinian family. ✍️ Sahar Ghadirian

"First, the good news: rock’n’roll never died, and Friday night's gig showed that a new generation of upstarts have picked up guitars, swaggered on stage, and grabbed hold of this fine genre" HotWax and Jeanie and the White Boys at Sidney & Matilda, #Sheffield. ✍️ Hamish Yewdall

"A lot of local women buy fabric, and then when they come in next time they're wearing an outfit they made out of the fabric!" Meet Scrap Dragon, the #Sheffield organisation turning trash into treasure in Burngreave 👗 ✍️ @rose-mason.bsky.social

"Each song is imbued with a brooding, clenched intensity, and a propulsive rhythm as tense as a tripwire drives the music" Taut Angles at Mary Street Live, #Sheffield. ✍️ Mark Rezzano

"Gonzalez and keys player Callum Duffy fly through a twelve-song set combining wonderfully subtle acoustic guitar with an incredible lyrical dexterity" Wesley Gonzalez at Sidney & Matilda, #Sheffield. ✍️ Steve Hunting

On the Opus Blog, we share a monthly round-up of articles, podcasts, books and more that our team have been learning from and found inspiring to our work 📚 Here's February's, featuring @amahra.bsky.social, Jack Becher and @indyjohar.bsky.social of @darkmatterlabs.org ⬇️ #SystemsChange

"As a standalone piece of theatre the production was gripping and beautifully presented, and it was striking just how much the political themes resonated today" Our review for Utopia Theatre's #CrownOfBlood is in and our reviewer, Paul Szabo, loved it ⭐️ @sheffieldtheatres.bsky.social #Sheffield

“Artists who have a learning disability or who are autistic belong in our most prominent cultural spaces” A new exhibition showcasing work from more than 70 artists with autism and learning disabilities has opened at @sheffieldmuseums.bsky.social. #Sheffield ✍️ @rose-mason.bsky.social

The series continues over on the Opus Blog, where you can read six more reflections from #ThePeoplesNewsroom team about how storytelling can help us transition to new economies on a liveable planet. Read 'Lessons for a Story Commons' now ⬇️ www.weareopus.org/blog/categor...

'Lessons for a Story Commons' is a new series from the team at #ThePeoplesNewsroom. For the past two years, they've been exploring how changing the way we tell stories can be key to changing the future itself 🔮 The introductory piece is in @nowthenmag.bsky.social ⬇️